Readicide - Chapter 2

I'm a little conflicted I guess about some things brought up in this chapter.  Gallagher states

"Outside of school, many of our students are not partaking in those critical activities that stretch and deepen their brains.  Instead, they often gravitate to those behaviors that offer instant gratification." (39)

A part of me says so what!  I say this because I think that students gravitate to things like the computer, texting, video games, etc.  I don't think this is such a terrible thing though.  They are watching TV shows that may teach them more than they could get from a book.  They could learn survival techniques, how to build a car / motorcycle, how to fix or build things at home, etc.  Now let's face it... they are probably watching music videos and things like that.  I guess I just don't think it is a bad thing for students to have some fun in their lives when at school they are sitting behind a desk for 7 hours a day so when they get home, maybe they do need a break. 

Then.. on the flipside, Gallagher writes, "When we deny students the opportunity to read long, complex works, we are starving a part of thier brains, and we start producing kids like the students in my class who can read but who cannot get below the surface of what they read." (40)

Now here's the other part of me that says Oh No!  It is also scary to think that students cannot comprehend what they are reading because if they can't comprehend what they are reading, what are they going to do when they have a job and cannot read the training manual or they buy a bookcase and cannot read the instructions to be able to put it together.  How will they keep up with current events if they cannot read a newspaper and actually understand what they are reading?  How will they hold a job?  These are important questions. 

I'm not sure though that reading a long, complex book is the answer though.  I think if we give our students a variety of things to read, they would be more successful because they would learn skills on how to read a variety of things that would actually benefit them in life.  Knowing the story of Romeo and Juliet or other classics is great but it is only that, they know a good book or a good story. 

More on Readicide

I wanted to add to my previous post about the first chapter in Readicide.  I am someone who doesn't like to read and I certainly do not read for pleasure.  To many people that may sound odd.  I don't think reading is a waste of time but with everything else in my life that keeps me busy, I don't find it enjoyable to sit down and read a book when I actually have a little free time on my hands.  I don't think that is a horrible thing.  When I think of the definition given on Readicide, I think it is important to remember that when you ask students about their love for reading, they are so busy reading (or pretending to read) the books they are forced to read for class.  They probably do enjoy some reading but not the reading they are made to do.  When you really think about it.. how many of us like to be told what to do anyways?